Week 6

Today I want to talk about tablet computers and their growing use in the business environment. While desktops and laptops are still the mainstay in most companies, tablets are a growing presence. Many IT professionals I know have been using smartphones and tablets for years now. While the usefulness of tablets is more apparent in certain areas than others, security concerns are something that all businesses have to address. For the most part you have three different types of tablets; Ipads, android, and windows. Most Windows tablets today run the Windows 8 operating system and can be configured fairly easily, with built in security tools, to be almost as secure as a laptop. Ipads and android tablets typically require apps to be bought and configured for added security (Harrison, 2013). To address this concern, some companies are producing enterprise tablets that are more easily configured and secured (Gray, 2014).
As someone who has an Ipad and loves it, I can definitely see the appeal of the tablet vs. lugging around a laptop with me everywhere. They are lighter, typically have much longer battery life, require no peripheral devices, and you can take them just about anywhere. From a security stand point though they are a definite risk. Since they are smaller they are more easily stolen. Unless a company has security blocks in place (harder on tablets) users run a risk of security breaches through multimedia usage.
The many issues with tablets leads me to the following conclusions:

• NO PERSONAL TABLETS!
• If companies are going to allow tablets, they should provide them per-configured with security blocks and settings already in place. 
• A firmly established and clearly defined policy for tablet usage should be in place and provided for all staff that use tablets.
• If properly handled tablets can be an amazing and productive addition to any enterprise, especially in IT.

Tablets are great. I love mine and use it more than my laptop by a fair margin at this point, but I also realize that it is a device easily abused or stolen and that makes it a risk to any company. It just has to be decided whether the potential gain is worth the risk.



Harrison, Laird. (2013, October 13). 9 Ways to Secure Tablets in the Enterprise. Tech Page One. Retrieved from http://techpageone.dell.com/technology/9-ways-secure-tablets-enterprise/#.Uwv9xhzNsdU

Viswanathan, Priya. (2013, December 20). Are Tablets Secure Enough for Using in Enterprise? About.com. Retrieved from http://mobiledevices.about.com/od/additionalresources/f/Are-Tablets-Secure-Enough-for-Using-in-Enterprise.htm

Gray, Patrick. (2014, January 7). The Dell Venue 8 Pro: The Windows tablet we've been waiting for? Techrepublic. Retrieved from http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/tablets-in-the-enterprise/the-dell-venue-8-pro-the-windows-tablet-weve-been-waiting-for/